UK banker to appeal Hong Kong convictions in women's murders

FILE - In this Monday, Nov. 10. 2014, file photo taken through tinted glass, Rurik Jutting, a British banker, is escorted in a prison bus to a court in Hong Kong. A British banker serving a life sentence in Hong Kong for murdering two Indonesian women, including one he spent days torturing while on cocaine, is seeking to appeal his conviction. Rurik Jutting's lawyer, Michael Vidler, said Wednesday that Jutting is appealing on the grounds of "certain aspects of the deputy judge's directions to the jury," without being more specific. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File)

HONG KONG — A British banker serving a life sentence in Hong Kong for murdering two Indonesian women, including one he spent days torturing while on cocaine, is seeking to appeal his conviction, his lawyer said Wednesday.

Rurik Jutting is appealing on the grounds of “certain aspects of the deputy judge’s directions to the jury,” Michael Vidler said, without being more specific.

Cambridge University-educated Jutting was convicted by a nine-member jury last year in the 2014 killings of Sumarti Ningsih and Seneng Mujiasih.

Jutting initially attempted to plead guilty to manslaughter but the judge rejected it, though he told jurors that they could still decide on their own between finding him guilty of murder or manslaughter.

The case shocked residents of Hong Kong, a Chinese financial centre with a reputation for safety, while also highlighting significant inequality and seedy aspects usually hidden from view.

Jutting worked for Bank of America-Merrill Lynch while Sumarti, 23, and Seneng, 26, came to Hong Kong as foreign maids but ended up as sex workers. Jurors viewed graphic video evidence Jutting shot on his iPhone of him torturing Sumarti and snorting drugs.

Vidler said arguments will be heard on Dec. 12 at Hong Kong’s Court of Appeal.